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German of the Week
Otto Beisheim with a picture of his late wife at the Beisheim Centre. Photo: DPA

'A pioneer and legend in the German retail world'

Published: 18 Feb 13 17:15 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20130218-48043.html

The man who transformed shopping in Germany died this week aged 89 and worth nearly €3 billion. Otto Beisheim, founder of Metro Group, home of names such as Real and Saturn, is The Local's German of the week.

Beisheim was one of the country's wealthiest people, owning at his death on Monday, ten percent of the group he founded.

Yet his fortune could not save him from illness and he committed suicide at his home near Frankfurt, a spokesman for the Otto-Beisheim Group confirmed.

"He was suffering from an incurable disease and departed this life due to the hopelessness of his health situation," she said.

Born in 1924, he served as a private in a Waffen-SS division during World War II, and then trained to work in the leather industry, but then moved into retail. Working with partners the Haniel and Schmidt-Ruthenbeck families, he brought the concept of cash-and-carry wholesaling to Germany.

The idea was quickly spread after he set up his first such shop in Mülheim an der Ruhr in western Germany in 1964.

He exported the idea first in Europe, then worldwide, establishing the "Cash and Carry," "Media Markt" and "Real" chains in countries from China to France.

"Otto Beisheim was a pioneer and a legend in the German and international retail world ... with innovation, courage and ambition, he founded one of the world's leading retail firms," Metro said in a statement.

He also established the Beisheim Centre in the centre of Berlin which includes the Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels near Potsdamer Platz at a cost of more than €450 million - which he named after his late wife Inge. The couple did not have children.

Through his charitable foundation, he supported schools and set up sports clubs and play areas for children.

He moved to Switzerland, becoming a Swiss citizen in 1988 and has left his entire fortune to be split between youth and sport foundations in Germany and Switzerland.

The Local/DAPD/hc

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

14:00 February 21, 2013 by sonriete
I have seen this photo before, the gentleman in color right in front of his wife in her best years right behind him. So he has chosen to name his important buildings in Berlin in her honor. Now that he has died at 89 years he chose to leave every cent of his multi billion fortune to German and Swiss young people for their benefit. All I have to say is wow, we should all be as good as him.
17:43 February 21, 2013 by raandy
He was a righteous person.
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